Twenty-eight Sarasota County students named National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists

Twenty-eight seniors from Sarasota County public high schools made the list and will have an opportunity to compete for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships.

According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, 1.5 million students in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2012 program. The pool of semi-finalists represents less than 1% of those who entered.

If selected as a finalist, students will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit Scholarships of $2,500, which are awarded on a state representational basis. In addition to these scholarships, finalists are eligible for about 1,000 corporate-sponsored scholarships if they meet the corporation’s specified criterion. Finally, about 200 colleges and universities are expected to offer about 4,800 Merit Scholarship awards to finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.